Ice or refrigerating machine



(NoMoael.)

' I'. W. WOLF.

10B 0R REPRIGBRATING MACHINE. r No. 385,157.; Patented June 26, 1888.

NA PErERs, Phaw-uumgmphw. wuhingtun. D. c.

NITED STATES ATENT OFFICEe FREDERICK W. WOLF, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 385,157, dated .Iune 26, 18488l Application filed April 9, 1888.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK W.WOLF, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvemeut in Ice or Refrigerating Machines, of Which the following is a specification.

My invention relates particularly to au improvement in the submerged condensers of ice or refrigerating machines employing a gas liquefable under mechanical compression and requiring after compression to be cooled in the condenser before being admitted to the refrigerator, where its expansion is utilized to absorb heat from a surrounding body to pro- As commonly practiced, the cooling of the refrigerating agent 'introduced by the compresser into the condenser coil or coils at the top of the latter is accomplished by cold water circulated through the condenser-tank around the coil or coils, which Water is ordinarily admitted at or near the base of the tank and allowed to escape from the upper part thereof, while the eonnectingpipe for the refrigerating agent of the condensercoils with the coils of the refrigerator (to prevent itspassing through the air, which, for obvious reasons, is undesirable) passes from the manifold or header7 at the base ofthe former to that at the upper end of the latter through the condensertank, and consequently through the water therein. rIhis arrangement is objectionable, for the reason that,inasmuch as the condenser-water is warm or warmer toward the upper part of the tank than toward the bottom, at or near which it enters, as aforesaid, the refrigerating agent, after having reached the lower manifold immersed in the coldest part of the condenser- Water, to reach the refrigerator, has to pass in the connectingpipe through the warmest portion of the condenser-water, where a material portion of the necessary cooling effect is counteracted, or, in other words, whereby what has been done toward cooling the compressed refrigerating agent is more or-less undone.

The object of my improvement is to provide means for protecting the connecting-pipe which conducts the refrigerating agent from the condenser to the regulating-valve, controlling the supply to the refrigerator, from Serial No. 270,061. (No model.)

the effect of the warmer water in the upper part of the condenser-tank, and thereby subable manifold or header, C, into which the refrigerating agentmas anhydrous ammonia-is forced from the compressor not shown) through the conduit or eduction-pipe r. At their lower ends the coils B lead into a manifold or header, C', preferably of the synclinal form shown and described in my pending application for Letters Patent of the United States for an improvement in the oil-extracting and gassaving apparatus for ice and refrigerating machines, Serial No. 256,767,l1ed December 2, 1887, and the pipe g corresponds with that similarly designated in mysaid pending application and serving to afford communication between the manifold and an oil-ex tractor therein described, but not shown in the present connection, as it forms no part of my present invention.

D is a regulating-valve at thejunction of a pipe, q, leading therefrom to the refrigerator, (not showm) and a pipe, E, which connects the manifold C of the condenser with the valve D. This pipe Epasses from the manifold Cupward through the condenser and water therein, and obviously, without means to prevent, the refrigerating agent passing through the pipe is affected by the temperature of the water. Thus, when the refrigerating agent enters the coils B in a heated condition from the compressor by way of the pipe i', it is cooled and liquefied by the ti me it reaches the manifold C; but before it reaches the regulatingvalve D on its way to the refrigerator through the pipeE it absorbs warmth from the surrounding water in the upper part of the tank, andis thus materially reheated, To obviate this I surround the pipe IOO E, from beyond the water-line in the condenser to that portion of the base of the latter at which the temperature of the Water does not eXceed or materially exceed the normal or teniperature at which it is introduced, with a jacket, E', preferably of metal, and lead the Water for cooling through the pipep into it near the upper end thereof, whereby it enters the condenser-tank through the jacket E', and thus envelops the pipe E initially, besides affording the advantage, which is Well known, of iowing against the stream ofthe refrigerating agent in the pipe. To prevent the jacket (thus also ai'fordingthesu ppl y-water pipe) fro m conducting the heat or warmth of the upper portion of the surrounding water to the water passing through it into the tank, I surround it by an air-jacket, E2, preferably of metal,and extending from near the water-level in the tank to or about to the depth at which the temperature of the water is below where it would tend to heat the water passing through the jacket E, and the air in the jacket El is compressed bythe water in which it is submerged, and affords a non-conductor of heat, whereby the jacket E, where it is surrounded by the jacket E2, is protected from the influence of the warmer water in the tank.

What I claim as new,and desire to secure by Letters Patentis l. In combination with the condenser of an ice or refrigerating machine, a pipe, ll, connecting the lower end of the condenser-coil through the condenser-tank with the regulating-valve D, and provided with a jacket, E', communicating from near its upperend with the water-supply, substantially as described.

2. In combination with the condenser` of an ice lor refrigerating machine,a pipe, E, connecting the lower end of the condensercoil through the condenser-tank with the regulating-valve D, and provided with a jacket, E', communicating from near its upper end with the water-supply, and an air-jacket, E2, in the tank surrounding the jacket E', substantially as described. y

3. In combination with the condenser of an ice or refrigeraling machine, manifolds C and C at opposite ends ofthe condenser-coils, and a pipe, E, connecting the manifold C through the condensertank with the regulatin'gyalve D, and provided with ajacket, E', commnnieating from near its upper end with the watersupply, and an air-jacket, E2, in the tank sur rounding the jacket E', substantially as dcscribed.

FREDERICK W. WOLF. In presence of- J. IV. DYRENFORTH, Cans. E. GAYLORD. 

